Electrically heated smoking article

ABSTRACT

An electrically heated smoking article includes a filter rod, an aerosol medium rod stacked at a lower end of the filter rod and including an aerosol medium that generates an aerosol by heating and a moisture absorbent accommodating or absorbing the aerosol medium, and a wrapping portion surrounding and wrapping the filter rod and the aerosol medium rod to maintain a stack structure. The aerosol medium, including glycerin and a thickener, is maintained in a semi-solid or solid state in a first temperature range including room temperature and is in a liquefied state in a second temperature range higher than the first temperature range. The glycerin vaporizes in a third temperature range higher than the second temperature range to generate an aerosol. The thickener does not vaporize in the third temperature range but remains in the moisture absorbent.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an electrically heated smokingarticle, and more particularly, to an electrically heated smokingarticle including an aerosol medium capable of generating an aerosol bya heating method rather than a combustion method.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for alternative methodsthat overcome the disadvantages of general cigarettes. For example,demand for a method of generating an aerosol by heating an aerosolgenerating material in a cigarette, rather than a method of generatingan aerosol by burning the cigarette has increased.

In general, a slurry reconstructed tobacco sheet, which is a main rawmaterial of a tobacco medium, is difficult to manufacture due to weaktensile force and has poor physical properties because it contains alarge amount of humectant in the tobacco medium. In addition, a tobaccomedium including a liquid, such as glycerin, is sensitive to humidity ofthe surrounding environment due to hydrophilicity thereof, making itdifficult to control a manufacturing process environment. There is alimit to the amount of liquid that may be included in the tobaccomedium.

In addition to the cigarette including the tobacco medium, it is alsoproposed to store a liquid in a separate cartomizer to additionallygenerate an aerosol so that a user inhales the aerosol derived from theliquid through the cigarette when inhaling the cigarette, but there isdifficulty (an expiration date, deterioration, etc.) in managing theliquid phase included in the cartomizer, and condensate may occur in anair flow path in which the aerosol generated in the cartomizer moves,resulting in contamination.

Accordingly, there is a need to provide an aerosol medium in adisposable electrically heated smoking article and obtain an aerosoltherefrom.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a disposable,electrically heated smoking article including an aerosol medium capableof generating an aerosol by a heating method rather than a combustionmethod and obtaining an aerosol therefrom.

In an aspect, an electrically heated smoking article includes: a filterrod; an aerosol medium rod stacked at a lower end of the filter rod andincluding an aerosol medium that generates an aerosol by heating and amoisture absorbent accommodating or absorbing the aerosol medium; and awrapping portion surrounding and wrapping the filter rod and the aerosolmedium rod to maintain a stack structure, wherein the aerosol medium,including glycerin and a thickener, is maintained in a semi-solid orsolid state in a first temperature range including room temperature andis in a liquefied state in a second temperature range higher than thefirst temperature range, wherein glycerin vaporizes in a thirdtemperature range higher than the second temperature range to generatean aerosol, and the thickener does not vaporize in the third temperaturerange but remains in the moisture absorbent.

The thickener may include at least one material selected from the groupconsisting of monosaccharides, disaccharides, sugar alcohols, andoligosaccharides.

The monosaccharides may be plant extracts including at least onesubstance selected from the group consisting of glucose, fructose, andgalactose.

The disaccharides may include gradients extracted from sugar.

The sugar alcohol may include one or more substances selected from thegroup consisting of isomalt, maltitol, xylitol, and sorbitol.

The monosaccharides may be sugars higher than disaccharides, and includemaltodextrin.

The aerosol medium may additionally include one or more selected fromthe group consisting of propylene glycol, nicotine, flavoring agents,caffeine, nutritional tonics, water, ethanol, sugar alcohols, andcannabinoids, as an aerosol raw material.

The aerosol medium may further include a flavoring component, and theflavor component includes one or more substances selected from the groupconsisting of menthol, fruit flavor, herbal flavor, clove or a cloveextract.

The electrically heated smoking article may further include a coolingtube rod having a hollow in a vertical direction between the filter rodand the aerosol medium rod.

The electrically heated smoking article may further include a tobaccobody rod at the top or bottom of the aerosol medium rod.

The electrically heated smoking article may further include a nicotinerod at the top or bottom of the aerosol medium rod.

The embodiment includes an aerosol medium capable of generating anaerosol by a heating method rather than a combustion method and asaccharide (monosaccharide, disaccharide, sugar alcohol,oligosaccharide, etc.) component as a thickener so as to maintain asemi-solid or solid state at room temperature, flavoring may also beprovided, and when the aerosol medium vaporizes and aerosolizes, thethickener does not vaporize but remains in a hydroscopic body, so thatthe user inhales only the aerosol derived from the aerosol medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of an electricallyheated smoking article according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows the results of thermal decomposition analysis of an aerosolmedium according to the embodiment at 300° C.

FIG. 3 conceptually shows a partially exploded perspective view and across-sectional view of an electrically heated smoking article accordingto another embodiment.

FIG. 4 conceptually shows a partially exploded perspective view and across-sectional view of an electrically heated smoking article accordingto another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will bedisclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, itshould be appreciated that various embodiments of the present disclosureand the terms used therein are not intended to limit the technologicalfeatures set forth herein to particular embodiments and include variouschanges, equivalents, or replacements for a corresponding embodiment.With regard to the description of the drawings, similar referencenumerals may be used to refer to similar or related elements.

In the present disclosure, an expression, such as “having,” “may have,”“comprising,” or “may comprise” indicates existence of a correspondingcharacteristic (e.g., a numerical value, a function, an operation, or anelement like a part) and does not exclude existence of additionalcharacteristic.

As used herein, each of such phrases as “A or B,” “at least one of Aor/and B,” “at least one or more of A or/and B,” and so forth mayinclude all possible combinations of the items enumerated together in acorresponding one of the phrases. For example, “A or B,” “at least oneof A and B,” or “one or more of A or B” may indicate the entire of (1)including at least one A, (2) including at least one B, or (3) includingboth at least one A and at least one B.

Expressions, such as “first,” “second,” “primarily,” or “secondary,”used herein may represent various elements regardless of order and/orimportance and do not limit corresponding elements. For example, a firstuser device and a second user device may represent different userdevices regardless of order or importance. For example, a first elementmay be named as a second element without departing from the right scopeof the various embodiments of the present disclosure, and similarly, asecond element may be named as a first element.

When it is described that an element (such as a first element) is“operatively or communicatively coupled with/to” or “connected” toanother element (such as a second element), the element may be directlyconnected to the other element or may be connected to the other elementthrough another element (e.g., a third element). However, when it isdescribed that an element (such as a first element) is “directlyconnected” or “directly coupled” to another element (such as a secondelement), it means that there is no intermediate element (such as athird element) between the element and the other element.

An expression “configured to (or set)” used in the present disclosuremay be replaced with, for example, “suitable for,” “having the capacityto,” “designed to,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or “capable of” accordingto a situation. A term “configured to (or set)” does not always meanonly “specifically designed to” by hardware. Alternatively, in somesituation, an expression “apparatus configured to” may mean that theapparatus “can” operate together with another apparatus or component.

Terms defined in the present disclosure are used for only describing aspecific embodiment and may not have an intention to limit the scope ofother embodiments. The singular forms are intended to include the pluralforms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. All ofthe terms used herein including technical or scientific terms have thesame meanings as those generally understood by an ordinary skilledperson in the related art. The terms defined in a generally useddictionary should be interpreted as having meanings that are the same asor similar with the contextual meanings of the relevant technology andshould not be interpreted as having ideal or exaggerated meanings unlessthey are clearly defined in the various embodiments. In some case, termsdefined in the present disclosure cannot be analyzed to exclude thepresent embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an electrically heatedsmoking article according to an embodiment.

The electrically heated smoking article according to the embodiment isintegrated with three rods stacked and wrapped by wrapping paper. Therods includes a filter rod 10, which is a mouth filter, on an upperside, a cooling tube rod 20 stacked at a lower end of the filter rod 10,and an aerosol medium rod (or aerosol-forming medium rod) 30 stacked ata lower end of the cooling tube rod 20 and including or accommodating anaerosol medium (or aerosol-forming medium) that generates an aerosol byheating, and wrapping portions 51, 53, and 55 surrounding and wrappingouter surfaces of the filter rod 10, the cooling tube rod 20, and theaerosol medium rod 30 to maintain a stack structure among the filter rod10, the cooling tube rod 20, and the aerosol medium rod 30. Since theelectrically heated smoking article having such a shape and structureaccording to the embodiment has a size that meets the standard of ageneral cigarette or an electrically heated smoking article (referringto a cigarette-shaped electronic cigarette) that is currently beingused, the electrically heated smoking article is not different from thegeneral cigarettes or the electrically heated smoking article from theperspective of users.

The filter rod 10 is a filter that serves as a mouthpiece, and serves toallow an aerosol to pass therethrough and blocks a liquid inflow. Thefilter rod 10 may be formed of pulp and may have a cylindrical or tubeshape. The filter rod 10 may be formed of a material, such as celluloseacetate, paper, PP, or PLA. Meanwhile, the filter rod 10 may include aflavoring ingredient to improve user's satisfaction. Flavoringingredients may include, for example, licorice, sucrose, fructose syrup,iso-sweeteners, cocoa, lavender, cinnamon, cardamom, celery, fenugreek,cascarilla, sandalwood, bergamot, geranium, honey essence, rose oil,vanilla, lemon oil, orange oil, mint oil, caraway, cognac, jasmine,chamomile, menthol, ylang-ylang, salvia, spearmint, ginger, coriander,coffee, and the like.

The cooling tube rod 20 may include a hollow 22 extending in a verticaldirection formed therein to provide a passage for aerosol movement. Thecooling tube rod 20 may include polylactic acid (PLA) to lower atemperature of the aerosol to prevent the user from getting burned wheninhaling the aerosol. That is, an open lower end of the hollow 22 facesthe aerosol medium rod 30 and an open upper end of the hollow 22 facesthe filter rod 10. The cooling tube rod 20 may be formed of celluloseacetate, and the cooling tube rod 20 serving as a cooling structure maybe formed of pure PLA or a combination of PLA and other degradablepolymers.

The aerosol medium rod 30 may be manufactured so that an aerosol mediumincluding glycerin in a liquid state is accommodated or absorbed in amoisture absorbent 30 a, and thereafter, the aerosol medium includingglycerin is maintained in a semi-solid or solid state at roomtemperature.

The aerosol medium may include aerosol raw materials other thanglycerin. The aerosol medium may include, as additional aerosol rawmaterials, one or more substances selected from the group consisting ofpropylene glycol, nicotine, flavoring agent, caffeine, nutritionaltonic, water, ethanol, sugar alcohol, and cannabinoids.

The aerosol medium accommodated or absorbed by the moisture absorbent 30a exists in a semi-solid or solid state in a first temperature rangeincluding room temperature, is liquefied in a temperature range (asecond temperature range) of 50° C. to 100° C. including 70° C., and isthen vaporized into an aerosol within a temperature range (a thirdtemperature range) of about 150° C. to 300° C. through additionalheating.

The aerosol medium rod 30 liquefies the aerosol medium includingglycerin in the second temperature range higher than room temperature,allows the aerosol medium in a liquid state having fluidity to beabsorbed into the moisture absorbent 30 a, and then cools the aerosolmedium to room temperature to phase-change the aerosol medium to a solidstate or a semi-solid state. Therefore, after the phase change, theaerosol medium remains in a gel, solid, or semi-solid state in the firsttemperature range, so that the aerosol medium does not flow out andremains within the aerosol medium rod during subsequent manufacturingprocesses or during distribution of smoking articles (referring toelectronic cigarettes in the form of cigarettes).

The amount of glycerin included in the aerosol medium rod 30 may be anamount suitable for puffing the number of puffs similar to that of aconventional cigarette with the smoking article of the embodiment. Thus,after a predetermined amount of aerosol derived from glycerin isgenerated, no more aerosol is generated or a satisfactory amount ofaerosol is not generated and the smoking article may be used once andthen discarded by the user. A known aerosol generating device used toheat a smoking article recognizes a user's puffing action and when apreset number of puffs is reached, the known aerosol generating deviceinforms the user thereof and/or cuts off application of power to aheater to prevent further puffing. Therefore, since it is necessary tocontinuously provide a sufficient amount of aerosol during apredetermined number of puffing operations to users with high puffingstrength, the amount of glycerin included in the aerosol medium rod 30is preferably an amount that meets the user's needs.

As described above, the aerosol medium in the aerosol medium rod 30manufactured in a solid or semi-solid state vaporizes and aerosolizes ina temperature range of about 150° C. to 300° C. (the third temperaturerange) higher than the second temperature range, and an aerosol mediumin a liquefied state which has not been aerosolized and inhaled afterheating may be cooled to room temperature and then solidified again inthe moisture absorbent 30 a.

In order to maintain the aerosol medium in a semi-solid or solid statein the first temperature range as described above, the aerosol mediumincludes a thickener. The thickener is not vaporized in the temperaturerange of about 150° C. to about 300° C., in which the aerosol mediumincluding glycerin vaporizes and aerosolizes, but remains in themoisture absorbent 30 a as it is. That is, when glycerin, a main aerosolmedium, vaporizes into an aerosol, the thickener does not vaporize andremains in the moisture absorbent 30 a.

The thickener includes at least one material selected from the groupconsisting of monosaccharides, disaccharides, sugar alcohols, andoligosaccharides. A method of using gelatin extracted from fish or meator vegetable gelatin is used as a thickener that gelates glycerin, or amethod of mixing such gelatin thickener and water with glycerin andcooling while stirring has been considered. However, since avaporization point of glycerin in the gel-like aerosol medium obtainedthusly is approximately 200° C. to 300° C. under atmospheric pressureand a vaporization point of water is approximately 100° C. underatmospheric pressure, the gelatin or water thickener may vaporizetogether with glycerin to aerosolize in the temperature range (the thirdtemperature range) of about 150° C. to 300° C. in which the aerosolincluding glycerin vaporizes to aerosolize. Therefore, the inventorsconsider other thickeners, and in embodiments, the thickeners include atleast one material selected from the group consisting ofmonosaccharides, disaccharides, sugar alcohols, and oligosaccharides.

In an embodiment, the monosaccharide is a plant extract and includes atleast one substance selected from the group consisting of glucose,fructose and galactose. A vaporization point of glucose is 527.1°C.±50.0° C. under atmospheric pressure, a vaporization point of fructoseis 697.1° C.±50.0° C. under atmospheric pressure, and a vaporizationpoint of galactose is 527.1° C.±50.0° C. under atmospheric pressure, andthus, the monosaccharide does not vaporize in the temperature range ofabout 150° C. to 300° C. (the third temperature range), in which theaerosol medium including glycerin vaporizes to aerosolize, but remainsin the moisture absorbent as it is.

In another embodiment, the disaccharide includes components derived fromsugar or the like. Since a vaporization point of sugar is 697.1°C.±50.0° C. under atmospheric pressure, the disaccharide does notvaporize in the temperature range of about 150° C. to 300° C. (the thirdtemperature range), in which the aerosol medium including glycerinvaporizes to aerosolize, but remains in the moisture absorbent as it is.

In another embodiment, the sugar alcohol includes one or more substancesselected from the group consisting of isomalt, maltitol, xylitol andsorbitol. Since a vaporization point of isomalt is 788.5° C. and avaporization point of maltitol is 788.5±60.0° C. under atmosphericpressure, the sugar alcohol does not vaporize in the temperature rangeof about 150° C. to 300° C. (the third temperature range), in which theaerosol medium including glycerin vaporizes to aerosolize, but remainsin the moisture absorbent as it is.

In another embodiment, the oligosaccharides is a disaccharide or highersaccharide, including maltodextrin. Since a vaporization point ofmaltodextrin is 527.1° C., the oligosaccharides does not vaporize in thetemperature range of about 150° C. to 300° C. (the third temperaturerange), in which the aerosol medium including glycerin vaporizes toaerosolize, but remains in the moisture absorbent as it is.

The inventors conducted thermal decomposition analysis at 300° C. foraerosol medium, using a Pyrolyzer+Agilent Technologies 7890B, 5977B MSDsystem (GC/MS) as an analytical instrument, and the thermaldecomposition condition was a multi-shot pyrolyzer (EGA/PY-3030 D): 300°C., a column was Frontier Laboratories, UA5, a carrier gas was helium1.0 mL/min, and a molecular weight range was scan mode (33 to 550 m/z).The obtained analysis result was transferred to FIG. 2 , and it wasconfirmed that only glycerin was vaporized from the aerosol medium andthat the thickener was not vaporized.

Additionally, the aerosol medium may include flavoring components. Inthe present embodiment, the flavoring component includes one or moresubstances selected from the group consisting of menthol, fruit flavor,herbal flavor, cloves or clove extracts.

As described above, the aerosol medium may include at least an aerosolraw material, such as glycerin, and at least one material selected fromthe group consisting of monosaccharides, disaccharides, sugar alcohols,and oligosaccharides as a thickener, and may further include a flavoringcomponent.

The moisture absorbent 30 a may be formed by crumpling, folding, orrolling pulp or fabric including pulp to have a cylinder or column shapeor by working pulp or fabric including pulp to have a cylinder or columnshape, may be formed by crumpling or rolling cotton woven fabric ornon-woven fabric to have a cylinder shape or by working cotton wovenfabric or non-woven fabric to have a cylinder shape, or may be formed bycrumpling or rolling a woven fabric or non-woven fabric of bamboo fiberto have a cylinder shape or by working the woven fabric or non-wovenfabric of bamboo fiber to have a cylinder shape. As another embodiment,the moisture absorbent 30 a is formed of porous ceramic, and the aerosolmedium is absorbed into pores therein. In the present embodiment, a sizeof the pores of the moisture absorbent 30 a formed of porous ceramics isin the range of 1 μm to 100 μm, and a porosity is in the range of 30% to70%.

FIG. 3 conceptually shows a partially exploded perspective view and across-sectional view of an electrically heated smoking article accordingto another embodiment. The electrically heated smoking article of thepresent embodiment further includes a tobacco body rod 41 including cuttobacco leaves as another aerosol medium at a lower end of the aerosolmedium rod 30. That is, the tobacco body rod 41 as another aerosolmedium may be provided at the top or bottom of the aerosol medium rod 30in this manner. In this case, the user may puff by mixing the aerosolderived from the aerosol medium rod 30 and the aerosol derived from thetobacco body rod 41. Depending on a relative position of the tobaccobody rod 41 and the aerosol medium rod 30, as shown in FIG. 3 , when thetobacco body rod 41 is located below (when located upstream), theaerosol derived from the tobacco body rod 41 may be mixed with theaerosol derived from the aerosol medium rod 30, while passing throughthe aerosol medium rod 30 so that the user may puff a correspondingmixture, and when the aerosol medium rod 30 is located below (whenlocated upstream), the aerosol derived from the aerosol medium rod 30 ismixed with the aerosol derived from the tobacco body rod 41, whilepassing through the tobacco body rod 41 so that the user may puff acorresponding mixture. The tobacco body rod 41 may include a solidmaterial based on a tobacco raw material, such as a reconstitutedtobacco sheet, cut tobacco leaves, and reconstituted tobacco. In anembodiment, the tobacco body rod 41 may be filled with a corrugatedreconstituted tobacco sheet. The reconstituted tobacco sheet may bewrinkled by being rolled, folded, compressed, or shrunken substantiallytransverse to a cylinder axis. The degree of porosity may be determinedby controlling an interval between the valleys of the corrugated sheet.

In another embodiment the tobacco body rod 41 may be filled with cuttobacco leaves. Here, the cut tobacco leaves may be produced byshredding a tobacco sheet (or reconstituted tobacco sheet). In addition,the tobacco body rod 41 may be formed by combining a plurality oftobacco strands in the same direction (parallel) or randomly.Specifically, the tobacco body rod 41 is formed by combining a pluralityof tobacco strands, and a plurality of longitudinal channels throughwhich an aerosol may pass may be formed. At this time, depending on thesize and arrangement of the tobacco strands, the longitudinal channelsmay be uniform or non-uniform.

The tobacco body rod 41 may further include at least one of ethyleneglycol, dipropylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol,tetraethylene glycol, and oleyl alcohol. In addition, the tobacco bodyrod 41 may further include glycerin and propylene glycol.

In addition, the tobacco rod 41 may include other additives, such asflavoring agents and/or organic acids. For example, flavoring agents mayinclude licorice, sucrose, fructose syrup, isosweet, cocoa, lavender,cinnamon, cardamom, celery, fenugreek, cascarilla, sandalwood, bergamot,geranium, honey essence, rose oil, vanilla, lemon oil, orange oil, mintoil, caraway, cognac, jasmine, chamomile, menthol, ylang, salvia,spearmint, ginger, coriander, coffee, and the like. Meanwhile, thetobacco body rod 41 may also include a portion of glycerin or propyleneglycol.

FIG. 4 conceptually shows a partially exploded perspective view and across-sectional view of an electrically heated smoking article accordingto another embodiment.

The electrically heated smoking article of the present embodimentfurther includes a nicotine rod 42 as another aerosol medium at a lowerend of the aerosol medium rod 30. That is, the nicotine rod 42 asanother aerosol medium may be provided at the upper or lower end of theaerosol medium rod 30 in this manner.

The nicotine rod 42 may include tobacco extract. The tobacco extract maybe naturally generated pure nicotine or synthetic nicotine. For example,the tobacco extract may include freebase nicotine or nicotine salt, butis not limited thereto.

The nicotine rod 42 may include two or more nicotine salts. A nicotinesalt may be formed by adding an appropriate acid, including an organicacid or an inorganic acid, to nicotine. The acid for forming thenicotine salt may be appropriately selected in consideration of anabsorption rate of nicotine in a blood, a temperature at which theelectrically heated smoking article is heated, flavor or savor,solubility, and the like.

For example, acids for the formation of nicotine salts may include asingle acid selected from the group consisting of benzoic acid, lacticacid, salicylic acid, lauric acid, sorbic acid, levulinic acid, pyruvicacid, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valericacid, caproic acid, caprylic acid, capric acid, citric acid, myristicacid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenicacid, phenylacetic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid, fumaric acid,gluconic acid, saccharic acid, malonic acid, or malic acid, or a mixtureof two or more selected from the above group, but is not limitedthereto.

Additionally, the nicotine rod 42 may include an additional aerosolmedium. The aerosol medium may be heated to serve as an aerosol formingagent providing a rich vapor production. For example, the aerosol mediummay be, but is not limited to, glycerin and propylene glycol or amixture of components thereof.

In addition, the nicotine rod 42 may include, for example, any one ofwater, solvent, ethanol, plant extract, fragrance and flavoring agent,or a mixture thereof. Fragrance may include menthol, peppermint,spearmint oil, various fruit flavor components, etc., but is not limitedthereto. Flavoring agents may include ingredients that may provide avariety of flavors or savors to the user.

Like the aerosol medium rod 30, the nicotine rod 42 may include amoisture absorbent. Like the moisture absorbent of the aerosol mediumrod 30, the moisture absorbent may be formed by crumpling, folding, orrolling pulp or fabric including pulp to have a cylinder or column shapeor by working pulp or fabric including pulp to have a cylinder or columnshape, may be formed by crumpling or rolling cotton woven fabric ornon-woven fabric to have a cylinder shape or by working cotton wovenfabric or non-woven fabric to have a cylinder shape, or may be formed bycrumpling or rolling a woven fabric or non-woven fabric of bamboo fiberto have a cylinder shape or by working the woven fabric or non-wovenfabric of bamboo fiber to have a cylinder shape. As another embodiment,the moisture absorbent 30 a is formed of porous ceramic, and the aerosolmedium is absorbed into pores therein. In the present embodiment, a sizeof the pores of the moisture absorbent formed of porous ceramics is inthe range of 1 μm to 100 μm, and a porosity is in the range of 30% to70%.

The wrapping portion includes a first wrapping portion 51 surroundingthe aerosol medium rod 30 and preventing liquid leakage of the aerosolmedium when heated by a heating device, a second wrapping portion 53surrounding the cooling tube rod 20 and the aerosol medium rod 30wrapped by the first wrapping portion 51 and maintaining a stackstructure of the cooling tube rod 20 and the aerosol medium rod 30, anda third wrapping portion 55 surrounding the filter rod 10 and thecooling tube rod 20 and the aerosol medium rod 30 wrapped by the secondwrapping portion 53 and maintaining a stack structure of the filter rod10, the cooling tube rod 20, and the aerosol medium rod 30.

The tobacco body rod 41 and the nicotine rod 42 may also be wrappedaround a separate wrapping portion, and may be surrounded and wrapped bythe third wrapping portion 55 to maintain a stack structure of thefilter rod 10, the cooling tube rod 20, the aerosol medium rod 30, andthe tobacco body/nicotine rod 41 and 42.

The first wrapping portion 51 is formed of paper or membrane materialcoated with a waterproof coating to prevent leakage of theaerosol-forming substrate. For example, the first wrapping portion 51may be provided as a laminate formed by attaching aluminum foil topaper, and is wrapped in a cylinder shape so that the aluminum foilcontacts the moisture absorbent 30 a. Accordingly, the aluminum foil mayeliminate or minimize a possibility that the aerosol medium in a liquidstate included in the moisture absorbent 30 a flows out through the sideof the aerosol medium rod 30. The second and third wrapping portions 53and 55 may be formed of plain paper or porous paper.

The smoking article according to an embodiment may be inserted into aheating space in a heating device to which a resistive heating method,such as a film heater, is applied and heated, or may be inserted into aheating space in a heating device to which an induction heating methodis applied in another embodiment.

The heating device refers to a grippable and portable aerosol generatingdevice having a heating space (cavity) into which a smoking article maybe inserted and heated, and heating an aerosol medium, such as glycerin,of the smoking article inserted into the heating space or anaerosol-forming substrate, such as a tobacco body and/or nicotine by aheater to form an aerosol. As described above, the heater may beprovided in a resistive heating method or an induction heating method asdescribed above, and may be heated to a temperature of, for example,100° C. to 400° C. to heat the aerosol-forming substrate provided in theelectrically heated smoking article inserted into the heating space(cavity) of the heating device to generate an aerosol. According to anembodiment, a target temperature may be preferably in the range of 200°C. to 350° C., and may be more preferably in the range of 250° C. to320° C. (for example, 280° C. may be determined as a target). In somecases, the target temperature may be in the range of 150° C. to 250° C.(for example, 180° C. may be set as the target temperature), which mayvary depending on whether a subject for generating an aerosol isglycerin, a tobacco body, a tobacco body to which a liquid composition,such as glycerin, is absorbed, or a nicotine liquid. In any case, sincethe aerosol generated in the electrically heated smoking article isintaken into the user's mouth through the cooling tube rod 20 and thefilter rod 10 when the user puffs, the target temperature of a heatingelement needs to be determined in advance in consideration of the factthat an excessively high temperature of the generated aerosol may causediscomfort to the user or risk of burns cause excessive formation of anaerosol, making it difficult to puff several times, although cooling ofthe aerosol during a puffing process is taken into account. Also, forthe above reason, an upper limit of the target temperature of theheating element is limited as mentioned above.

According to an embodiment, a temperature at which the generated aerosolpasses through the cooling tube rod 20 and the filter rod 10 may bemeasured as a mouth end temperature, and in order not to discomfort theuser, the temperature of the aerosol needs to be below 50° C.,preferably, 45° C. or lower. A preferred aerosol mouth end temperatureranges from 25 to 45° C., and a more preferred aerosol mouth endtemperature ranges from 30° C. to 40° C.

In a smoking article according to an embodiment, the aerosol medium rod30, the tobacco body rod 41 or the nicotine rod 42 are provided in alength direction of the smoking article (in some cases, the aerosolmedium rod 30 may be located upstream or downstream), and as describedabove, since the target temperature of the aerosol medium rod 30, thetarget temperature of the tobacco rod 41, and the target temperature ofthe nicotine rod 42 are different from each other, It is preferable thatan independent heater capable of heating the aerosol medium rod 30 andthe tobacco body rod 41 or the nicotine rod 42 in response to eachtarget temperature is provided in the heating space of the heatingdevice.

In an embodiment, in the case of a smoking article formed in the orderof filter rod-cooling tube rod-aerosol medium rod-tobacco body rod,since the target temperature (e.g., 300° C.) of the aerosol medium rodis different from the target temperature (e.g., 200° C.) of the tobaccobody rod, it may be preferred that a heater (e.g., a resistive heatingheater) for heating the aerosol medium rod and a heater (e.g., aresistive heating heater) for heating the tobacco body rod may be spacedapart from each other and heat the aerosol medium rod and the tobaccobody rod in different temperature ranges to effectively generateaerosols derived from the respective rods.

Of course, the above example is given as an example, and it may benatural for those skilled in the art to change the arrangement anddisposition in consideration of the above description according to aheating method and an arrangement order of the aerosol-formingsubstrate.

The present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodimentsdescribed above, and various modifications may be made by anyone skilledin the art without departing from the gist of the present disclosureclaimed in the claims. Of course, such changes are within the scope ofthe claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electrically heated smoking article,comprising: a filter rod; an aerosol medium rod stacked at a lower endof the filter rod and including an aerosol medium that generates anaerosol by heating and a moisture absorbent accommodating or absorbingthe aerosol medium; and a wrapping portion surrounding and wrapping thefilter rod and the aerosol medium rod to maintain a stack structure,wherein the aerosol medium, including glycerin and a thickener, ismaintained in a semi-solid or solid state in a first temperature rangeincluding room temperature and is in a liquefied state in a secondtemperature range higher than the first temperature range, wherein theglycerin vaporizes in a third temperature range higher than the secondtemperature range to generate an aerosol, and the thickener does notvaporize in the third temperature range but remains in the moistureabsorbent.
 2. The electrically heated smoking article of claim 1,wherein the thickener includes at least one material selected from thegroup consisting of monosaccharides, disaccharides, sugar alcohols, andoligosaccharides.
 3. The electrically heated smoking article of claim 2,wherein the monosaccharides are plant extracts including at least onesubstance selected from the group consisting of glucose, fructose, andgalactose.
 4. The electrically heated smoking article of claim 2,wherein the disaccharides include gradients extracted from sugar.
 5. Theelectrically heated smoking article of claim 2, wherein the sugaralcohols include one or more substances selected from the groupconsisting of isomalt, maltitol, xylitol, and sorbitol.
 6. Theelectrically heated smoking article of claim 2, wherein themonosaccharides are sugars higher than disaccharides, and includemaltodextrin.
 7. The electrically heated smoking article of claim 1,wherein the aerosol medium further includes one or more selected fromthe group consisting of propylene glycol, nicotine, flavoring agents,caffeine, nutritional tonics, water, ethanol, sugar alcohols, andcannabinoids, as an aerosol raw material.
 8. The electrically heatedsmoking article of claim 1, wherein the aerosol medium further includesa flavoring component, and the flavor component includes one or moresubstances selected from the group consisting of menthol, fruit flavor,herbal flavor, clove or a clove extract.
 9. The electrically heatedsmoking article of claim 1, further comprising a cooling tube rod havinga hollow in a vertical direction between the filter rod and the aerosolmedium rod.
 10. The electrically heated smoking article of claim 1,further comprising a tobacco body rod at the top or bottom of theaerosol medium rod.
 11. The electrically heated smoking article of claim1, further comprising a nicotine rod at the top or bottom of the aerosolmedium rod.